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| John and Effie Dempster in 1962 |
My maternal grandmother. Effie Brackenridge was born
on 11th July 1888, at Burnside Place Larkhall, the daughter of Alexander
and Catherine Brackenridge. She was the third child in a growing family. Her
parents were involved in the local Brethren Assembly and their beliefs and
commitment would have influenced many aspects of her childhood.
A certificate dated 8th April 1901
certifies that ‘Effie Brackenridge residing at Larkhall, and presently
attending Academy School, has passed the prescribed Examination conducted by
one of H.M Inspectors of Schools, who has authorised me to grant her this
Certificate of ability to read and write, and of a knowledge of Elementary
Arithmetic, which now frees the said Scholar from further Attendance at School.’
By the time of the 1911 Census, she was working as a ‘Bookeeper’;
she next appears in the records on 14th August 1918 when she married
John Cumming Dempster at 52, Union Street Larkhall ‘After Banns according to
the forms of the Christian Brethren.’ The officiating brother who signed the
register was Robert Barnett, and the witnesses were Effie’s sister Kate and
John’s brother Robert.
It seems that the couple lived initially at Lilybank
Cottage, Ashgill. In September 1921 they moved to Wiston Schoolhouse when John
was appointed headmaster there, and they made their home in two further schoolhouses
as his career progressed – Greengairs (1934-c1947) and Clarkston in Airdrie
(c1947-1954.) In retirement, my grandparents lived in Coatbridge, in Mount Vernon
in the east end of Glasgow, and in Lanark.
There is so little documentary evidence of Effie’s
life. She gave birth to three children, and buried two of them. She fulfilled
the role of head teacher’s wife, and at Wiston loyally supported John when he
decided that his role in the community required that the family attend the
local Church of Scotland rather than travelling to the Brethren Assembly in
Lanark. When they moved to Greengairs, however Effie and my father attended the
local Assembly while John headed instead to the Kirk – a step evidencing her
resilience and courage. By the time I knew them however, John and Effie were
members of Ebenezer Hall in Coatdyke, Airdrie.
I did not know her well, I did not discern the deep
things in her, but I know that she loved me. When I think of her, I remember a
sweet, simple joy as she glided around the house, eyes bright, humming gospel
songs to herself. She was not a bookish person, but she loved The People’s Friend. I remember one of
her visits to our house at Westerton. She sat on the couch in the front room
trying to juggle with hard plastic balls from a skittle game, while my mother
looked anxiously on, worried that one of them would land on the polished wood
of the piano behind her.
Each time I saw her, she gave me a silver coin, first
a half-crown and later a 50p piece, wrapped in a twist of brown paper with my
name written on it in blue ink. She’s write me letters, opening ‘Dearest John,’
which raised a smile – was I more precious to her than her husband?
In her final years, she was extremely deaf, but
refused point blank to get a hearing aid, even though we were reduced to
communicating with her by writing on scraps of paper.
When I showed her the stories and poems I published
in the Glasgow Herald in the 1960s,
she would shake her head in what looked like awe, and exclaim ‘Awfie words,
awfie words’ – referring to their quantity, I think, rather than their quality.
I think she was proud of me.
My grandfather died after a prolonged illness on 1st
September 1972. Thereafter Effie lived on her own in the ground flat they had
shared in Briarybank Avenue, Lanark. There, her upstairs neighbour, delivering
the paper as usual on 12th March 1973 found Effie on the kitchen
floor. She was dead. She had been getting her breakfast. She had not suffered.
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